With two major acquisitions, multiple product announcements and management changes, server virtualization leader VMware, Inc. has experienced significant growth since its VMworld 2013 conference last August. Today, just days ahead of the 11^th annual VMworld 2014 conference (which begins on Sunday), let’s take a look back at VMware’s major milestones of the past 12 months.

They’ve included the acquisitions of desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) provider Desktone, Inc. and of enterprise mobility management and security solutions provider AirWatch, LLC. Highlights have also included product announcements in VMware’s major “growth areas” which, according to Wikibon analyst Stu Miniman, fall into four spaces: VMware NSX, vCloud Hybrid Service (vCHS), Virtual SAN (Software-Defined Storage or SDS), and end-user computing.

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Timeline of events

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August 26, 2013 – VMware launched its network virtualization platform VMware NSX during VMworld. The software is reportedly able to operate using any hypervisor and most networking hardware. “This is their SDN (networking) play,” Miniman said. For more on VMware’s view of network virtualization, watch the interview of Martin Casado (who, at the time, was Chief Architect of Networking at VMware) by Miniman and theCUBE co-host John Furrier at Open Networking Summit 2014.

VMware announced this morning that Casado has just been promoted to Senior Vice President and General Manager of VMware’s Networking and Security Business Unit. In this role, he will be taking charge of the VMware NSX platform.

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October 15, 2013 – At VMworld 2013 Europe in Barcelona, VMware announced that it was acquiring desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) provider Desktone, Inc. Desktone offers a multi-tenant desktop virtualization platform for delivering Windows desktops and applications as a cloud service. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

February 24, 2014 – VMware announced that it completed its acquisition of AirWatch for $1.54 billion. “Wandering WiFi, LLC was also included in the acquisition,” Miniman said.

March 12, 2014 – The general availability of VMware’s Virtual SAN (VSAN) (Software Defined Storage or SDS) was announced. For more on VSAN, watch Miniman’s CUBE Conversation here. “It fits in Wikibon’s Server SAN category,” Miniman said.

April 15, 2014 – VMware launched its vCloud Hybrid Service (vCHS). For more info on that, watch Wikibon analyst Dave Vellante and Miniman’s interview of Mathew Lodge, Vice President of Cloud Services at VMware during EMC World 2014 in May.

June 30, 2014 – VMware announced the launch of the vSphere 6.0 public beta program. VMware’s primary product line is vSphere, according to Miniman. “Speculation is that general availability (GA) is likely to be at VMworld [next week],” Miniman added.

Within the past 12 months, VMware has also put energy into end-user computing with the Airwatch acquisition as well as with changes in management. In August 2013, management changes included the addition of Sanjay Poonen, General Manager of End-User Computing Business (who theCUBE interviewed at VMworld last August).

And in January 2014, VMware hired former Gartner analyst Chris Wolf as their new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Americas. VMware has done “basically a reboot of their entire [end-user computing] division,” Miniman said.

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VMworld 2014 Preview

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In this special episode of #CUBEconversations, Vellante and Miniman discuss the upcoming VMworld 2014 conference that is taking place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco all next week. In the episode, Vellante and Miniman discuss topics of discussion planned for theCUBE next week and address some of the news, updates and even predictions involving VMware.

Be sure to listen for Miniman’s bold prediction about a certain announcement we can expect to see in the coming week! Check the episode out here or below. Also, click here to stay tuned to theCUBE next week for live coverage of the VMworld 2014 conference.

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